Chosen Brief
My Girl is a script centres around a coming-of-age love story between two girls, Skye and Samara. The two girls are about to enter college but reunite during their summer break at a second hand book stall. The girls have a conversation about their love lives; finding out through a note inside a biology book, that they had liked each other all along.
I chose this script because I thought it best suited my personal style while stepping outside my own comfort zone. My style isn't very dark thematically, usually very colourful and lighthearted. I thought that a romantic film would let me utilise my style in a creative way. This helped me escape my comfort zone as I pictured the scene being more illustrative than my typical flat design. The theme also carried a sense of nostalgia and longing, which would be interesting to convey. I also liked the specific motifs occurring in the script.
The script represents many themes of LGBT+ and coming of age films. There are some notable aspects of symbolism and potential visual elements.
- The biology textbook with a pink note inside. The pink note reveals Samara's confession, and biology is presumably the class they took together.
- Pink being used to symbolise femininity, but also incorporated in the lesbian flag.
- The notes to communicate their truest feelings. The love confession is on the note while Skye's note writes all the things she likes about Samara.
- The song 'i wanna be your girlfriend' by girl in red. The subtle nod is that if a woman listens to girl in red, they have a romantic preference towards women.
- The car driving past with the radio on; coming-of-age and moving on with life. The song is playing on the radio when the character of Skye is first introduced.
These visual cues can help foreshadow the plot the film, while also setting a certain mood and setting.
Inspiration and Research
Juno Title Sequence
Juno's title sequence has the closest style to what I had in mind. The simplified shapes outlined in fine-liner showcases a very unique style. The style itself looks like illustrations done in school books, reminiscent of the coming of age story. The style would work really nicely with the theme I'm portraying in my title sequence. I want the title sequence to be stylistically hand-drawn to be reflective of the iconic doodles in school books. The illustrations are minimal, usually just one outline of an object. It can also appear to accompany the 'hand written note' vibe.
Tuca and Bertie
The Tuca and Bertie title uses a colouring and typographic style I want in the title sequence. The backgrounds are coloured outside the lines, giving a fun and child-like appeal. The line work is thin, single strokes, similar to the Juno title sequence. The colours are also flat, not much shading or highlights. The typography choice of a bubble font also presents a sense of playfulness. It suits the visual style of the title sequence too, appearing hand-drawn. I do want to steer away from the vibrant colour scheme. This diverts from the desired theme I had in mind, rather, I would prefer to have my title sequence more muted to show maturity.
Mood Board
The created mood board described the aesthetic and style I want to convey in the title sequence. I wanted to match the feminine theme of the script, noting that a lot of the images incorporated colours such as pink and purples. Stylistically, the most notable motifs are the hand-written note taking and the hearts. Many of the photos are illustrated, either in the anime style or the continuous line technique. I want the title sequence to appear to be hand-drawn, to act more personable. It can also be reminiscent of drawing in a sketchbook, perfect for coming of age.
Storyboard
The storyboard combines the main visual elements into a title sequence. The sequence of each location follows the script. Starting on the car radio, the audio will be turned up and the theme music will start playing. The song, 'i wanna be your girlfriend' by girl in red will be playing in the background.
Style Frames
The style frames are used to better visualise what the final outcome is supposed to appear like. Using the research as a guide, I used Procreate to produce these illustrations. Inspired by the Juno, fine line aesthetic, I traced images of items to recreate the appearance. Instead of the faded pencil shaded colouring in that title sequence, I instead used a chalk brush. This chalk texture added a full amount of colour, to emulate my flat design but added an illustrative interest. The colours are outside the lines to simulate a hand-drawn effect. The colour choice is minimal, sticking to reds, pinks and white. The minimal colour choice was used to compliment each other. The colours were very evidently taken from the lesbian flag, but also communicates femininity and girlhood. Pink is also a significant colour in the story, as the special note in the script is pink. The limited colour palette also allows for cohesion amongst the entire title sequence.
Animatic
Animating the style frames helps establish the sequencing order. By putting them into a timeline, the amount of time each frame gets is evaluated. Within the animatic, there are some scenes that need more nuanced animation, as there is quite a few seconds to fill in.
Process and Development
First Scene - Car Radio
To start, I used the style frame to assist creating the first scene. The radio was highly detailed. It would be quite difficult to recreate using mask outlines in After Effects.
The typography chosen for the "Production Presents" was round thin san-serif typeface. This matched the fine-liner aesthetic of the style frames. This was also the first instance of using PNG sequences to cycle through the different colourings. This added a continuous movement while looking 'stop motion' like. This was used to emulate aspects of the Juno title sequence, but the textured brush used to colour additionally added to the hand-drawn aesthetic.
I wanted to show that this was a radio and have an audio change. Adding the speaker allowed for the music to crescendo. This created a solid beginning, transitioning to the main title.
These frames were linked to a null that performed a slide transition.
The typography used for the main title was a hand-drawn 3D bubble text. This was a perfect example of the typefaces used previously in the research. It expresses the youthful, feminine aesthetic.
The music notes were originally added to create continuity within the composition. It would better help transition the radio frame, displaying that the two scenes are linked. It also adds movement into the scene.
However, the notes looks amateur and were not adding anything in particular to the scene. The feedback provided was that instead of music notes, there was a line drawn heart. This would fit the theme cohesively and still add continuity.
Second Scene - Biology Book
For the textbook scene, the outlines were masked instead of using the style frame. This was utilised because by making it a mask, the effect of trim paths could simulate the lines being drawn. This animation effect was applied to all of the outlines in this scene, easing them in and out. The wiggle paths effect was added too, making it look more illustrative than linear.
Next step was adding in the colour blocks. The sequence of each animation was 5 frames per second with 30 loops. This ensured that each colour was animated with the same timing. This timing was used as it was fast enough to keep things moving, but slow enough for the choppy effect to still occur.
The book scene transitions to the individual sticky notes by zooming in. These were again masked, to provide the wiggle paths effect. The shapes were made similar to the wider shot to accomodate for a smoother transition.
Linked to a null, the notes slide from one note to the other. The pencil drawing scene was deleted to save animation time and to allow the other scenes to be more nuanced.
The names used within the title sequence are taken from a series called Rainbow High. I just found this to be the easiest as it already had a set list of characters.
Co-ordinating the colours of the notes helped link the relationship between the characters of Samara and Skye. The use of the same colour also registers that they both have major roles in the main plot.
First In-Progress Render
Third Scene - Fast Food
This scene uses both the original style frame and masks to create the final product. Outlining the table using a mask was used to perform the trim paths effect. However, the food was highly detailed. Therefore, it was more convenient to stick to the illustration but with the animated colours.
The text was added in the area of the composition that had the most space. This was also in the direction the line was being drawn, allowing for the line to guide the viewer's eye. Composition panned slightly from left to right to simulate a real camera moving.
The arm with drink scene was originally going to use the puppet feature on After Effects. However, it was much easier to anchor the point of rotation to the elbow. The cup mask was linked to the arm so it would remain in the hand's position. The text was added in the bottom right corner, the arm's clockwise rotation guiding the viewer's eye downward.
The burger animation went through many iterations. The first iteration with just masking was too difficult to animate. The second idea was to individually draw each component in the burger to animate it being built. Each layer of the burger was drawn in Procreate using the fine-liner brush. Then, it was animated to appear at different times within the composition. Finally, each ingredient layer had its own colour layer, meaning that there were plenty of PNG sequences made for this one scene.
I still wanted the burger to have some sort of eating animation. Though, if the burger was completely eaten, the timing would be quite fast in this scene. The bite was created by making a shape layer with the same colour as the composition's background.
Second In-Progress Render
Fourth Scene - Street
The road scene, I wanted to pan in to demonstrate a more advanced animation skill. In order to do this, the scene was placed into a 3D space and rotated to fit the horizon shot.
Once the road was placed correctly, a null was created to help conduct the panning shot. The camera then provided a wide shot angle, also allowing for a parallax effect in the items placed further away. Additionally, it allowed for a blur after a certain distance, which blended the edge of the road's outline nicely.
Using the outlines created in Procreate, they were masked and placed along the road. They were placed among the 3D scene, helping build the illustrative 3D landscape. Performing this in the foreground was easy as it had similar position dimensions as the road. However, finding the right positions for the midground and background items was found to be much harder.
Once the street lamps were placed, they were nulled to the control null. This ensured that everything moved correctly. Additionally, the horizon line was added in the background. This used trim paths, drawing a line of continuity. This followed in the same direction as the panning shot.
Instead of making individual colours for each item, common colours were drawn in certain shapes and then masked. As seen above, a square of the light pink colour was masked to fit the shape of the tree. If the colour needed adjusting, the levels within the software were altered. This saved a lot of time but could appear very messy if done to more detail.
The road followed the same procedure as the tree above. However, because it was over a bigger area in the 3D space, it was definitely hard to mask. This colour was linked to the road outline, making the position not shift. However, the scale of the road had be increased due to the length between the bottom of the composition and horizon not entirely being filled up.
Finally, the text within the scene I wanted to be centred. It was nulled to the centre of the road. The choice to not add any shadows or other 3D effects is to keep the illusion of the illustrative, fine-liner aesthetic. Making the scene too 3D would break the illusion and not fit the overall composition at all.
For the final scene, the hands rotated to appear that they're holding hands. The hands linger slightly, building the anticipation and nervousness of the situation. hands were anchored at where the elbow would ideally be, giving an accurate movement.
The easing of the hands was manipulated to simulate a more realistic movement. The keyframes were set to easy ease, and then changed to better suit the fluid motion of the hands swinging.
Finally, the colours were added and the text was aligned centre. I wanted the hands to overlap the title, but needed to ensure there was enough time for the viewer to reads the text before it disappeared. By doing this, it keeps the focus point in the same place, rather than the viewer needing to search for it. This final shot also uses trim paths, leaving the hands together as the title sequence ends.
Final Title Sequence
Mood Board References
alice <3. (n.d.). pastel pink hair [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602334/
ash. (n.d.). Korean study notes [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602333/
Doll Yui. (n.d.). I’m truly, deeply, madly in love with you [Illustration]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602393/
Dribble. (n.d.). Sapphic Project: Logos [Logos]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602355/
Fuwa Silky. (n.d.). Sheet music “shut up” [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602380/
𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚔𝚒𝚒𝚒𝚡𝚣𝚣𝚣k𝟷𝟷🌱꒱. (n.d.). Purple notebook [Illustration]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602383/
M. (n.d.). Heart Candles [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602396/
myia. (n.d.). i still think abt u [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602361/
Nyankuzu. (n.d.). ??? [Illustration]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602406/
Pinterest Chile. (n.d.). Heart shape paper clips [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602360/
pngtree. (n.d.). Music Notes [Illustration]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602403/
pngtree. (n.d.-b). Outline of open flipping book [Illustration]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602366/
Prodsec. (n.d.-a). glossier tubes [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602352/
Prodsec. (n.d.). [Outline of flower]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602372/
studies.mia. (n.d.). f o n d o d e p a n t a l l a [Illustration]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602369/
Studio Ponoc. (n.d.). Girl with red hair holding book [Illustration]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602391/
The Decor House. (n.d.). Life Lines [Illustration]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602374/
Waratchaya. (n.d.). [Illustration]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/710161435006602343/